The present invention generally relates to hybrid printers, such as printers that print text on media, such as a receipt, and also scan an image of media, such as a check. Check processing is fast progressing from methods that require transportation from the place of payment to the account holder's mailbox, including numerous intermediate physical handlings. The driving force is cost, since it is much less expensive to send electronic data than it is to move physical items. This transition has been on-going for several years and the latest inducement is in the Check 21 Act, which gives legal status to recreating a check from image data if paper is still required at any point to complete the journey.
Transitioning to processing in digital form is based on acquisition of electronic equipment for this, and because this is a costly change and requires significant logistical and training support, it is occurring over a period of time, even within small stores and bank branches.
A consideration in planning for document digitization is where that digitization should be done; and if that target is at the point of first presentment of (financial) documents whether to replace devices with new ones that already have the needed features or with devices that can be upgraded at the actual start-of-use time with the needed features.
There already exists in the point-of-sale (POS) industry printers that have built-in MICR read heads as well as an additional print station to print on “slip” (including checks) media and on “receipt” media. These hybrid printers have been recently redesigned to include a scanning element that can digitize check sized documents. These have provided for one-sided scanning, thus restricting usage to financial payment Electronic Check Conversion, which only needs an image for dispute resolution purposes. Newer peripherals, largely targeting the banking industry, have provided for dual sided imaging as required by the Check 21 Act for recreation of a legal document at points distant from the original check paper. This contingent of devices was designed from the basic concepts of relatively high volume check sorting transports by dropping many of the transport features, including document speed and sorting. However, that approach still leaves a rather expensive checks-only device, and some of these models also have limited slip printing capabilities.
In addition to expense, there is the question of footprint—the more it is like a document transport, the more room is needed. But the human factors need is to fit at “points of first presentment”, where the document volume is low but also varied. Thus the ideal device must be inexpensive, have a paper traversing path that minimizes footprint, and be able to image a variety of documents.
The problem of being able to handle a variety of documents has so far been solved by building separate devices, geared to handle limited ranges of thickness and size and thus not being very cost-effective in their target market.
If a device is to be designed for upgrade in the field, then simplicity of upgrade task also becomes an issue, in order to minimize technician work time as well as the disruption to normal usage activities. If the upgrade is too complex, then the savings from delaying purchase until the time the rest of the upgraded processing system is in place would be lost.
Thus what has been lacking is the innovation to overcome these problems—a device that fits, at reasonable cost, and can handle the document types that need to be captured at the point of presentment.
In addition to these major physical concerns is one of multiple transitions over the equipment lifetime of system processing by using the device features in different sequences, depending on the system capabilities of the moment and the type of document being handled. For instance, the relationship between which side of a check requires printing and which side is inserted for MICR reading may need to be changed. Such changes may require the use of an automatic check flipper or manual flipping, increasing the clerk time spent on handling transaction. Thus novel device flexibility is needed to match evolving system processing.
It is an object of the present inventions to reveal a design for a hybrid printer that overcomes the above mentioned concerns.
It is another object of the present inventions to build a single device that is applicable to both the POS markets and the financial counter market.